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Old 01-12-2021, 11:05 AM
Alan Carruth Alan Carruth is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2011
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jt1 wrote:
"Really? Opposite ends of the steel-string guitar spectrum."

In a production guitar, on average, yes. On average Red ('Adirondack') spruce tends to be denser than most, while WRC is lowest in density of the usual top woods on average. If the factory is building to those averages their Red spruce tops will be heavier than their WRC ones most of the time and the spruce ones will have more 'headroom' while the WRC ones will be more 'responsive'.

An individual maker can pick the top to suit the sound the customer wants, and there's enough overlap in the properties of the various woods that it's usually possible to find one of most species that can be made to give the desired sound. Of course, most makers can also vary things like the box depth, sound hole size, and bracing, to shift things in the desired direction as well.

"The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's where the smart money goes". It's usually easier to make a guitar with good head room if you use Sitka or Red spruce; most of the tops in your stash will more or less do the trick. You might have to search a while to find a cedar top that will be as good. If the customer wants the 'cedar' sound with headroom, I'd try to talk then into redwood, which tends to be more in the same class for density and hardness with spruce, but has cedar's low damping. The more you 'go with the flow' the easier it will be to get what you want.
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